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Aurous, the Popcorn Time of music is already being sued

It didn’t take long for Aurous, the Popcorn Time of music streaming to catch the attention of the authorities. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed a lawsuit alleging the developers behind the project were, “well aware of the copyright infringement caused by their service and wilfully intend for it to happen.”

Andrew Samspon, one of the app’s two developers claimed the software is completely legal as it only uses public APIs to collate tracks from legal sources including YouTube, Spotify and SoundCloud.

However, the RIAA feels differently, and is seeking $3 million damages, according to Sampson.

“Like Grokster, Limewire or Grooveshark, it is neither licensed nor legal. We will not allow such a service to willfully trample the rights of music creators,” said an RIAA spokesperson in a statement provided to the Guardian.

This isn’t the first time Aurous has found itself in hot water. It had to shut down its funding campaign on Indiegogo and refund backers after allegedly attracting “unwanted attention”.

Sampson has responded to the RIAA lawsuit on Twitter, calling the suit “empty” and vowing to fight it.

Matt Hussey was the former Editor-in-Chief for The Next Web. Previously he worked on the launch of Wired UK, ShortList and Mr Porter. He's been an active contributor to GQ, FHM, Men's Health, Yahoo, The Daily Telegraph and maintains a blog on Huffington Post